Why has PSX games gone through the roof in prices?

[keilbaca]

Now its $75+ on Ebay. I was checking out a lot of my favorites and they're through the roof also.

 

What caused it? Just curious, not even the snes greats are going as much, than say Legend of Mana.

 

I was considering going through and rebuying the psx games I used to own that got stolen in Texas...

 

Its kinda ridiculous if you ask me...

Edited April 11, 2011 by keilbaca

[DickNixonArisen]

Welll... bound to happen. This is recipe for why things are worth money:

 

 

Good/beautiful/useful - generally desirable (high demand) + Hard to find (low supply) + publicized (demand) + in great shape (supply modifier; only a given % of supply is desirable)

 

Things that people think will be collector's items are not usually hard to find because people save them and keep them in nice shape. Things that are garbage are not worth money because they are not "good", they have little utility, beauty, or fun factor. Things that are cool but not well known are not worth money because there is no demand. You understand all this, i'm sure.

 

Things that will be worth money are either things we do not think of as being valuable (things we throw away that are beautiful or useful, like ephemera such as flyers, posters, etc) or thinks that lose value easily because they are damaged easily. PSX games are packaged (mostly) in brittle jewel cases and put out in the notoriously fragile CD format. They have a high attrition rate as they're easily damaged or thrown away due to having a low perceived value to most people (not old enough to be collectible or new enough to be current). They're not widely collected for. Nobody expected them to be worth money in the future, so they're not usually well-cared for. This is actually the recipe for something to be worth money. If River Raid carts cracked in half easily, the game would be worth a lot more than it is.

 

Another funny one: sneakers and t-shirts. Nobody expected Nike Air's from the early 90's to appreciate in value, but they fit the criteria. They are beautiful and useful (not to me, hell no, but to many), and they have a high attrition rate. There aren't many older sneakers in good shape. They were used, damaged, and thrown away. The remaining pairs are rare, especially if they were already harder to find because of some specific design or whatever. The same goes for t-shirts of early punk and hardcore bands. These things might have had runs of 100 or 500 shirts, they are beautiful (to some people), were often subjected to some very shirt-unfriendly conditions almost immediately after purchase, and even if they were not moshed to pieces, t-shirts are not naturally long-lasting. Now that the collector or nostalgia factor enters, their extremely limited supply makes them hot items. If you want an original judge or gorilla biscuits t-shirt these things are going well into the hundreds, I imagine there are some fakes out there once that amount of money comes into the picture. Bizarre, but again, it all makes sense if you look at it right. The job is to predict which things will actually be worth more in the future than they are now. VHS, 8-track, Cassette and CD/DVD copies of most items are not worth much money right now; to some the idea of them ever being valuable is laughable. However, these are physically weak formats, prone to failure. Certain titles (that have inherent appeal for whatever reason) will become harder and harder to find in any good shape. They WILL be worth money.

 

Cars are funny like that... few people look at their own newer car and think of it as a future classic, since it looks boring to them. People in the sixties never imagined their cars would be worth money now, they scoffed, they were wrong, we scoff now, we'll be wrong. Just like hairstyles; you think "how could we have thought those looked good", imagining that what you have on your head is not subject to that same ruling or will not be twenty years later. Then again, storing a car over such a long time comes with a cost unless you have all that space and are willing to wait anyway. Ephemera is the way to go, since it's often free. Any appreciation is a lot of appreciation when you pay 0$ to start. It's easy to store, fun to collect, often fairly obscure. All that needs to happen is for the band to really break, the drug to be banned, the actor to get shot, whatever. As long as most other people don't get the same idea and hold on to it, as long as they throw it away and add value to your copy, and people in the future want it... there you go.

 

Ok, sorry for such a long reply. Bit of a topic I've been thinking about lately.

Edited April 11, 2011 by DickNixonArisen

[Austin]

Yeah, I didn't expect the prices to shoot up.. At least not as much as they have. Especially Legend of Mana.

[tz101]

I find PSX games for $1-3 at thrift stores all the time, so have not witnessed the prices going up in the wild. If you are comparing ebay prices alone, then everything, especially BIN auctions are usually outrageous on prices. Online, its money-grubbing, plain and simple. If people simply refuse to pay the BIN prices, then maybe these greedy sellers finally get a clue.

[TheGameCollector]

It also has to do with people who aren't in financial hardship and want something buying things for any ol' price going ahead and spending more money than the item is really worth just to have it sooner. If too many people do that, everybody is going to jack the prices up and think that it's worth that much. Bidding causes most of this effect.

[Lemmi]

when i was looking for guardian heroes for saturn i thought why wont this game sell for less than $65 ever, you would think one auction would sell lower than that once, but it never happened in 6 months. so i got one for $66 and guess what? the cd arrived cracked and i got a neg on ebay for asking the idiot why was the cd cracked

 

i was thinking someone was bidding up the price on all auctions to keep it around $65

[greencoman]

Also factor in ebay's number game. Ebay only lists games for what the highest selling point is. Wolfenstein 3d goes for about 10 bucks loose. I really wanted a copy so I paid 24 dollars with almost 5 dollars shipping. When I looked again all ebay's auctions in which a seller had a loose copy of wolfenstein 3d was now listed at a buy-it-now price of 29.00 dollars. Games get hot at times most collectors can tell you that just wait. I remember when any of the command and conquer games on the playstation would sell for 30 a piece. Now I have seen complete copies go for 7 dollars. Just wait after they hype calms down you may well see that game much cheaper. However if it is a collectors game it may still fetch a good price. So I would wait if you really want your games on the cheap do what alot of collectors here tell me. Just look at yard sales, craigslist ect and eventually you will find what you want cheaper. Good luck to rebuilding your collection.

[Lemmi]

Games get hot at times most collectors can tell you that just wait. I remember when any of the command and conquer games on the playstation would sell for 30 a piece. Now I have seen complete copies go for 7 dollars. Just wait after they hype calms down you may well see that game much cheaper. However if it is a collectors game it may still fetch a good price.

 

heh im still waiting (7 years later) for guardian heroes to drop in price, but it went the other way, now its way more for even a loose copy

[Austin]

Games get hot at times most collectors can tell you that just wait. I remember when any of the command and conquer games on the playstation would sell for 30 a piece. Now I have seen complete copies go for 7 dollars. Just wait after they hype calms down you may well see that game much cheaper. However if it is a collectors game it may still fetch a good price.

 

heh im still waiting (7 years later) for guardian heroes to drop in price, but it went the other way, now its way more for even a loose copy

 

Yeah, your best bet there is getting the Japanese version of it.. Even that has gone up in price, though.

[Hatta]

The Playstation was released in 1995 in North America. If you were 15 (pretty much the target demographic) when the PSX came out, you're about 30 today. This is when people start making real money, and can collect what is nostalgic to them. Or they start a family, and want to share their childhood with their children.

 

Now is the time to start a PS2 collection, if you're into that sort of thing. Expect prices to climb in a decade.

[the.golden.ax]

Games get hot at times most collectors can tell you that just wait. I remember when any of the command and conquer games on the playstation would sell for 30 a piece. Now I have seen complete copies go for 7 dollars. Just wait after they hype calms down you may well see that game much cheaper. However if it is a collectors game it may still fetch a good price.

 

heh im still waiting (7 years later) for guardian heroes to drop in price, but it went the other way, now its way more for even a loose copy

 

 

Got mine at a comic shop last year for $1.99. No manual, has back insert. One day if I find a manual for $10 or $20 it will be a great deal.

 

AX

[TwinChargers]

I guess I'm lucky, cause I found a copy of NHL Faceoff 98 at the pawn shop for $.99 yesterday. Its not nearly as collectable and might not (who am I kidding, it definately doesn't) have as big of a following as other games, but when I was in my teens this was the game that I enjoyed and played a ton of. I lost it somewhere along the way in life and it was great to find it again for under a buck to boot.

 

It appears that many RPGs and some fighters retain there value. As one who has played a few RPGs and some fighting games, why is that? I understand that with sports games, they churn out a new one every year with little to differentiate one from the other, so the market is flooded with them and fondness isn't always linked to a particular title, but series perhaps. Maybe I'm just playing the wrong RPG's or fighters, or maybe they aren't my cup of tea.

[Cynicaster]

My sister was given a PS-One from somebody who was just going to throw it out, so she headed to our local game store (which carries everything from Odyssey to PS3) to see if she could grab a few games at a decent price. She told me they wanted $25-$30 for the original freakin' Crash Bandicoot. Seriously? Seems utterly ludicrous.

[TwinChargers]

My sister was given a PS-One from somebody who was just going to throw it out, so she headed to our local game store (which carries everything from Odyssey to PS3) to see if she could grab a few games at a decent price. She told me they wanted $25-$30 for the original freakin' Crash Bandicoot. Seriously? Seems utterly ludicrous.

 

With a little looking you can find them for under $10. If you garage sale or go to flea markets you can probably find them in sets for cheaper since it was a fairly common game.

 

Places like you local game store are attemping to make a living off of primarily nostalgia and ease of access. With prices like that, it will almost always be there if you NEED it. I'm frankly surprised that places like that make it to pay there rent.

[Rev]

Welll... bound to happen. This is recipe for why things are worth money:

 

 

Good/beautiful/useful - generally desirable (high demand) + Hard to find (low supply) + publicized (demand) + in great shape (supply modifier; only a given % of supply is desirable)

 

Things that people think will be collector's items are not usually hard to find because people save them and keep them in nice shape. Things that are garbage are not worth money because they are not "good", they have little utility, beauty, or fun factor. Things that are cool but not well known are not worth money because there is no demand. You understand all this, i'm sure.

 

Things that will be worth money are either things we do not think of as being valuable (things we throw away that are beautiful or useful, like ephemera such as flyers, posters, etc) or thinks that lose value easily because they are damaged easily. PSX games are packaged (mostly) in brittle jewel cases and put out in the notoriously fragile CD format. They have a high attrition rate as they're easily damaged or thrown away due to having a low perceived value to most people (not old enough to be collectible or new enough to be current). They're not widely collected for. Nobody expected them to be worth money in the future, so they're not usually well-cared for. This is actually the recipe for something to be worth money. If River Raid carts cracked in half easily, the game would be worth a lot more than it is.

 

Another funny one: sneakers and t-shirts. Nobody expected Nike Air's from the early 90's to appreciate in value, but they fit the criteria. They are beautiful and useful (not to me, hell no, but to many), and they have a high attrition rate. There aren't many older sneakers in good shape. They were used, damaged, and thrown away. The remaining pairs are rare, especially if they were already harder to find because of some specific design or whatever. The same goes for t-shirts of early punk and hardcore bands. These things might have had runs of 100 or 500 shirts, they are beautiful (to some people), were often subjected to some very shirt-unfriendly conditions almost immediately after purchase, and even if they were not moshed to pieces, t-shirts are not naturally long-lasting. Now that the collector or nostalgia factor enters, their extremely limited supply makes them hot items. If you want an original judge or gorilla biscuits t-shirt these things are going well into the hundreds, I imagine there are some fakes out there once that amount of money comes into the picture. Bizarre, but again, it all makes sense if you look at it right. The job is to predict which things will actually be worth more in the future than they are now. VHS, 8-track, Cassette and CD/DVD copies of most items are not worth much money right now; to some the idea of them ever being valuable is laughable. However, these are physically weak formats, prone to failure. Certain titles (that have inherent appeal for whatever reason) will become harder and harder to find in any good shape. They WILL be worth money.

 

Cars are funny like that... few people look at their own newer car and think of it as a future classic, since it looks boring to them. People in the sixties never imagined their cars would be worth money now, they scoffed, they were wrong, we scoff now, we'll be wrong. Just like hairstyles; you think "how could we have thought those looked good", imagining that what you have on your head is not subject to that same ruling or will not be twenty years later. Then again, storing a car over such a long time comes with a cost unless you have all that space and are willing to wait anyway. Ephemera is the way to go, since it's often free. Any appreciation is a lot of appreciation when you pay 0$ to start. It's easy to store, fun to collect, often fairly obscure. All that needs to happen is for the band to really break, the drug to be banned, the actor to get shot, whatever. As long as most other people don't get the same idea and hold on to it, as long as they throw it away and add value to your copy, and people in the future want it... there you go.

 

Ok, sorry for such a long reply. Bit of a topic I've been thinking about lately.

 

i loved your long reply, it makes alot of sense!

[HatefulGravey]

Its eBay. The good thing about eBay is you can find just about anything at anytime. The bad is the prices are almost always completely nuts!

 

You might catch hell trying to find you game in another store, but if you do chance are it will be a crap ton cheaper.

 

The real problem is people in stores pricing games and other items like eBay BINs. We all talked about this 100 times, but I felt the need to kick that horse once more. That horse really really pisses me off!

[the.golden.ax]

Games get hot at times most collectors can tell you that just wait. I remember when any of the command and conquer games on the playstation would sell for 30 a piece. Now I have seen complete copies go for 7 dollars. Just wait after they hype calms down you may well see that game much cheaper. However if it is a collectors game it may still fetch a good price.

 

heh im still waiting (7 years later) for guardian heroes to drop in price, but it went the other way, now its way more for even a loose copy

 

 

Got mine at a comic shop last year for $1.99. No manual, has back insert. One day if I find a manual for $10 or $20 it will be a great deal.

 

AX

 

 

Picked up a manual for $20 on ePay. $21.99 for the set! Beat that I'm very pleased.

 

AX